The On-line Journal of Genetics and Genealogy will highlight the connections between the science of Y and X chromosome, mitochondrial, and autosomal DNA analysis and genealogy. Reference will be made to scientific and genealogy articles which complement each other and advance the study of recent family history and ancient human migrations.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Dear Customers,
Here is the latest update regarding the Conference and our lab in Houston:

a) The 5th Annual Conference on Genetic Genealogy will be postponed
until February or March 2009, as the Sheraton Hotel has just informed
us that they will not be in an appropriate condition to host our
conference. The positive aspect of this postponement is that we will
try our best to arrange the schedule in order for Spencer Wells to be
one of our speakers. As soon as we have the new date we will advise you.

b) Labs: First of all there has been no interruption in the processes
related to the standard Y-DNA and mtDNA tests, which are performed in
Arizona. The batch was successfully closed this week and transmitted,
a couple of days later than normal, due to networking issues that were
resolved Friday.

The Genomics Research Center (Houston Lab) processes the full
mitochondria, autosomal, and deep clade, as well as the advanced
marker tests. These are the only ones subject to delays. We are
pleased to announce that due to the outstanding efforts of our lab
team and the restoration crew in place at our site, we were able to
fully restore the freezing capabilities of our DNA storage robot.
Yesterday, we were also able to power one of our sequencing machines.
Our lab team is working this weekend and we will be able to advise you
of the integrity of the DNA samples stored in Houston by mid-week. As
soon as this is confirmed, our Houston lab will resume the work on our
customer samples, while we restore the full capabilities of the lab.

As we have additional news, we will keep updating you.

We also want to take this opportunity to express our sincere
appreciation for the hundreds of emails of support and encouragement
that we have received during this difficult time. There is no adequate
way to express how much this means to us and our entire team. Thank
you so much!